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Realities muddle voting rights suit

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

By STEPHANIE BARRY

sbarry@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - Shifting population trends have complicated a
federal voting rights trial, prompting a judge yesterday to
question the wisdom of a proposed redistricting plan
designed to benefit blacks and Latinos.

U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor yesterday peppered a
witness with questions about a proposal to create nine
voting districts across the city, wondering whether the plan
would truly advance equal voting rights.

"It does collide with logic," Ponsor told witness
Doug J. Amy, a professor of politics at Mount Holyoke
College, who did not design the proposal. "I'm,
frankly, surprised to see a proposal in which ... five of
the nine districts are overwhelmingly white."

Ponsor also wondered whether the so-called ward
representation plan comes too late, now that blacks and
Latinos represent a collective majority in Springfield.

The plaintiffs' proposal for a revamped City Council
retools eight existing voting wards into nine geographic
districts. They propose one candidate hail from each
district. School Committee members would be elected by from
six districts.

Currently, councilors and School Committee members are
elected citywide, not by a single ward or district. The
testimony in court yesterday was part of the lawsuit filed
by civil rights groups and several black and Latino
residents against the city over the lack of ward
representation.

Under the plaintiff's plan, council districts one
through four encompass black and Latino voting majorities
ranging from roughly 55 to 80 percent. Districts five
through nine are populated with white voting majorities
ranging from 64 to 84 percent, their figures show.

But Amy, author of two books on the electoral system and
voting rights, said the new plan would nonetheless benefit
black and Latino voters. Plaintiffs say the groups have not
been fairly represented in citywide elections.

The City Council and the mayor approved an eight-district to five-at-large ratio for the council last year. Plaintiffs rejected the remedy, now pending before the Legislature....